At their funeral on Sunday, the father of two British-Israeli sisters who were killed in a shooting in the occupied West Bank embraced their bodies as mourners sobbed.
In their car in the Jordan Valley on Friday, Maia and Rina Dee, ages 20 and 15, were shot and killed by suspected Palestinian gunmen.
Following surgery, their mother Leah is in a critical condition.
The attack took place as Israeli-Palestinian tensions and violence were on the rise.
The prayer hall at a cemetery in the settlement of Kfar Etzion was packed with people, and the low rhythmic songs grew and swayed with them.
Many of the mourners were teenagers, including some from Rina’s old school. The family gathered at the front, near a small podium, talking and holding each other for extended periods of silence.
The bodies were brought out with a Star of David embroidered in gold and silver on each, one in black and one in blue.
Their father, Rabbi Leo Dee, a native of Radlett, England, embraced them. His hands reached out to touch his final three children as he reclined, his face contorted in agony.
In his response, Rabbi Dee expressed concern over how he would inform the girls’ mother when she awakens what had happened to their “two precious gifts.”
He told those assembled that “today the Jewish people have proven we are one”.
“A simple, quiet family is devastated,” he said. “The whole country hurts.”
Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was among the mourners.
Many of the mourners were teenagers, including some from Rina’s old school. The family gathered at the front, near a small podium, talking and holding each other for extended periods of silence.
The bodies were brought out with a Star of David embroidered in gold and silver on each, one in black and one in blue.
Their father, Rabbi Leo Dee, a native of Radlett, England, embraced them. His hands reached out to touch his final three children as he reclined, his face contorted in agony.
In his response, Rabbi Dee expressed concern over how he would inform the girls’ mother when she awakens what had happened to their “two precious gifts.”
Speaking to the BBC on Saturday evening, Rabbi Dee described his daughters as beautiful, smart and popular. He said he had not been able to sleep since their deaths.
“Every time, I had nightmares and woke up,” he said, “but the reality was worse than the nightmare, so I went back to sleep. Recurring nightmares… that’s how it went.”
He said Maia, who was volunteering for national service in a high school, was “wonderful, beautiful, had a lot of friends… she was very keen to do a second year of volunteering”.
Rina, he said, was “beautiful, fun, very smart, top grades in every subject, very popular with friends, sporty… very responsible, she would take responsibility for many things”.
“When it came to sweeping out the youth club floor, if other people didn’t turn up, she would be there by herself for three hours on a Friday morning, to make sure it was done,” he said.
Rabbi Dee said he heard about the attack before realising his own family was a victim.
His wife and daughters did not pick up when he called them. Then he came across an image of the attacked car online.
“And we could just see one of our suitcases in the back seat,” he said. “There was a massive panic and screaming.”
Then he arrived at the scene by car. However, he was given his daughter’s ID card, which confirmed the worst when he was refused access.
According to Rabbi Dee, he and his three surviving kids “will get through this.”
Prior to the funerals, Rabbi Mordechai Ginsbury of the Hendon United Synagogue in north London claimed to have had a brief conversation with his close friend Rabbi Dee.
The BBC quoted him as saying, “Naturally, as are we all, [he] was devastated, shocked at how just in a few moments with an act of absolute evil and madness – insanity – things can change around.”
“The loss of two gorgeous daughters, and his wife now lying critically ill in a hospital in Jerusalem.
“But through the sadness there’s still that determination that he has to find any positives one can find, to try and be strong for his remaining children.”
Rabbi Ginsbury continued by saying that people in Israel and from all over the world who had contacted Rabbi Dee made him feel “supported and embraced by a blanket of warmth and love.”
In a tweet on Saturday that included the sisters’ names and described the incident as a terror attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his condolences to the family.
“No words can describe the depth of our shock and sadness at the heartbreaking news,” said Sir Ephraim Mirvis, chief rabbi of the UK.
Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai ordered all Israelis with firearms licences to start carrying their weapons after the two sisters were shot.
Also on Friday, a suspected car-ramming attack left one Italian tourist dead and seven others injured, including three Britons.
